Couple of weeks ago I was on the East Coast, and my rental car happened to be satellite radio equipped. Satellite radio is cool.I found a political talk channel called POTUS. Dug it.
On POTUS I heard a mildly amusing interview with a comedian I’d never heard of – W. Kamau Bell. I decided to find out more about the cat.
Do you know what Kamau Bell’s claim to fame is? Kamau Bell is credited with telling the first Barack Obama joke on Comedy Central, the cable channel. He did it way back in 2005.
Given that the premise of his joke was that Obama could never get elected, perhaps Mr. Bell should not keep bragging about this.
And given that he led up to the Obama material with some ugly nasty personal putdowns of Condoleezza Rice, dude has nothing at all to be proud of, in my opinion.
Judge for yourself:
| Jokes.com | ||||
| W. Kamau Bell - Obama | ||||
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I didn't find Bell very funny.
ReplyDeleteIt's said that fiction lies in order to reveal truth and that there's truth in those "just kidding" jokes. A lot can be said of Rice but Bell's Reagan/Rottweiler joke didn't even come close to resembling anything that would make me involuntarily or out-and-out laugh because the jokes weren't really on target.
OMG a local! He's from the Bay Area. I think I read an article about him a few weeks ago in a local daily.
ReplyDeleteI had high hopes as it seemed (from the article) that he had something to say rather than just trying to be outrageous.
Absolutely, 'Drea. Condi Rice ain't ugly! If this cat thinks Condi Rice is ugly, there's something wrong with him.
ReplyDelete^I agree. It's such a low blow that it feels like a desperate joke. Not ugly, Smart, and super powerful even before she got into office. Don't agree with her politics, but dude write some smarter an funnier jokes.
ReplyDeleteNot funny at all! He took his stock bad teeth jokes and used them on Condi Rice. Poke fun at her politics not her looks.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see any drinks in the audience's hands so I don't understand why they laughed.
But the "Black Osama" comment was prescient.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing to me here is that I agree with much of what you all are saying. I would never do a joke like the one I did about Condi again. Not about her or any woman. SInce 2005 when that was taped, I have been schooled and reschooled by friends and family. However, I do stand by the Barack joke. It was a funny joke back then as it was 2005 and hardly anyone was talking about him as a legitimate presidential candidate in the media. I'm proud that I was one of the first people to say his name on television. (And I am also extremely happy that I was wrong.)
ReplyDeleteArtists are supposed to evolve. But the thing that is especially true about being a comedian is that the evolution has to happen in front of other people. I currently have a solo show where I pledge to "End Racism in About an Hour" and what I have learned from that show is that you can't end racism if you don't also end sexism and homophobia, and illogical hatred of all kinds. I sincerely hope you people give me a second chance. 2005 was four long years ago. I'm not the same person that I was then. As I'm sure many of you aren't either. Thanks for the feedback. Kamau
Bro. Kamau, thank you for commenting, and welcome. I salute you for the grace with which you handled these critical remarks.
ReplyDeleteKeep rockin' and rollin'.